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What have you done with your beachfront?

By TSTO Tips
June 18, 2013 //
109

A complete Squidport is still some time away for most people, but here’s the inevitable “What have you done with…?” Squidport-related post.

The beachfront gives you lots of new options and there are lots of things you can do with it. You can have Malibu-style mansions with exclusive beaches that are the playground of Springfield’s rich, or you can be much more egalitarian and open up some parks and recreational areas.

Mine will be a mix of both. I’m saving a plot especially for Rainier Wofcastle’s mansion when it arrives in the not-to-distant future, and I’ll probably move Fat Tony in next to him, given that his Compound remains a work in progress somewhere on the southern edge of town. But just behind the Squidport I’ve opened up a small park and a beach – and I’ve put all the other Lawn Chairs away so it’s the only place Kent Brockman can go to relax.

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So what have you done with your beachfront. Take a screenshot and upload it to an image site and post a link here. Let others see what you’ve done.

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Categories Design, Fat Tony, Fat Tony's Compound, Gameplay, Kent Brockman, Lawn Chair, Squidport, Update

How much do the new buildings cost – and what part of the Conform-o-meter do they help?

By TSTO Tips
June 17, 2013 //
23

The points you need to get the 5-star rating on your Conform-o-meter changed dramatically with level 30, making a 5-star town and a 5% bonus an impossible goal for many players. Fortunately, the buildings and decorations that came with the Squidport update have fixed that, as they give you lots of new ways to get to 5 stars. Before reading on, though, if you haven’t already taken a look at last month’s posts on the Conform-o-meter and how it works, jump over to the Conform-o-meter page, where all the information you need is gathered in one place.

So here’s the list of all the new buildings (and, ignoring the fact that it was labeled as a decoration, that includes the Houseboat), their prices, rewards, and contributions:

Building Price XP on completion $/XP/time Rating Points
Houseboat $15,000 1500 $135/15XP/ 8 hrs Indolence 10
Itchy & Scratchy Store $32,000 3000 $90/10XP/ 4 hrs Consumerism 10
Malaria Zone $47,500 5000 $135/15XP/ 8 hrs Consumerism 10
Just Rainsticks $52,000 5000 $300/30XP/ 24 hrs Consumerism 10
Frying Dutchman $43,000 4000 $225/22XP/ 16 hrs Gluttony 10
Turban Outfitters $61,500 6000 $400/40XP/ 36 hrs Consumerism 10
My First Tattoo $54,500 5000 $200/20XP/ 12 hrs Consumerism 10
Much Ado About Muffins $48,500 5000 $135/15XP/ 8 hrs Gluttony 10
Crypto Barn $81,000 7500 $300/30XP/ 24 hrs Consumerism 10
Ferris Wheel 120 donuts 120 $260/26XP/ 10 hrs Consumerism 10
Planet Hype 150 donuts 150 $300/30XP/ 12 hrs Gluttony 10

As a side note, the files also contain references to two buildings that were either planned and dropped, or are planned for the future – Moe’s Brewing Co. and It’s a Wonderful Knife. There’s no more information on these, although they’re referred to a couple of times. Certainly, both would be great to see (especially Moe’s).

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Categories Boardwalk Buildings, Conform-o-meter, Consumerism rating, Ferris Wheel, Frying Dutchman, Gameplay, Gluttony rating, Houseboat, Indolence rating, Just Rainsticks, Malaria Zone, Squidport, Update

The odds have changed at Springfield Downs!

By TSTO Tips
June 17, 2013 //
52

Yes they have and a couple of other things changed there, too, with the Squidport update. A bet is now cheaper for starters, at $2000. And you can potentially win more, although you can now only place a bet every 8 hours. It’s old news now, I know, but there’s been so much to write about in the last few days.

So, the odds. While the dogs that match them change, here are the odds, the potential winnings and the chance that you’ll win the cash and XP:

Odds Dollar Winnings XP Winnings Chance
2-1 $6,000 75XP 50.51%
5-1 $12,000 100XP 25.25%
9-1 $20,000 150XP 15.15%
19-1 $40,000 250XP 7.58%
99-1 $200,000 500XP 1.52%

And the result – Springfield Downs is just that bit more fun. And I’m a bigger fan, given that I won the $200,000 on the second go with the new odds!

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Categories Gameplay, Springfield Downs, Squidport, Update

What happens in the Squidport quests (stage 2)?

By TSTO Tips
June 15, 2013 //
100

In the last part of the walkthrough, which you can read here, we left Homer swearing at the ocean for 12 hours, quite possibly in another dimension. When he’s finished, he miraculously reappears in front of the Entrance to begin the handover to the Sea Captain, who’ll be your guide for much of the remainder of the Squidport storyline.

1. The Old Man and the Sea Part 1: Homer steps out of his Squidport Entrance netherworld and notices something unusual in the distance:

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Homer: No, it’s real! It’s some kind of house/boat hybrid! Hmmm, I wonder what you call that?
Um… a houseboat? And it comes with the Sea Captain for only $15000. It’s in your decorations menu rather than your build menu because there’s absolutely no wait time for it to build once you place it on your newly purchased water expansion. That means you unlock the Sea Captain (Horatio to his friends) right away.

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2. The Old Man and the Sea Part 2: Make sure that you read the Sea Captain’s script in appropriately pirate-y language…
and possibly Homer’s as well. Get ready to welcome to Springfield a man who could seriously challenge Grampa in the rambling story-telling stakes:

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Sea Captain: Y’arr, who be doing all that squalling and cussing at the sea? Ye made me sailors blush. Seriously, some of them cried.
Homer: Sorry, sometimes I have a potty mouth. Anyhoo, who the F@#& are you?
Sea Captain: Captain McCallister. Just let in from a long haul at sea. Been at Madagascar and Malabar and spent half a hundred days floating ’round the giant garrrbage patch in the Pacific. Y’arr, that last one tweren’t intentional. But sit ye down and have a yarn with the Captain. I’ll tell of a ship that near went under, her belly laden with counterfeit Kindle Fires.
Homer: Eh, I’m really not much for listening to people.
Sea Captain: Did I mention there’s be rum by the bucketfull?
Homer: Yarn away! Don’t leave anything out!
And so, the Sea Captain spends the next 4 hours telling tall tales. You don’t need to keep Homer free for this. Let him slip away and earn money for you – you’re going to need it.

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3. Squidport Part 5: Finished with his tall tales, the Sea captain surveys what Homer has done with the Squidport so far…
Sea Captain: Ya’rr, the Squidport! This old seadog has spent many a silver here, having me caricature made and eating Dipping Dots. Tho something’s different now, can’t lay a finger to it. Wait, I have it – it’s become totally lame.
Homer: I know, right? You can’t buy a fried anything or squoosh a penny into a worthless flat oval.
Sea Captain: Me men’ll get this place into ship-shape. The finest builders what sailed the seas!
Lisa: It makes sense that sailors would know carpentry. They have to constantly repair the ship.
Sea Captain: Aye. We’ll start by building a logo store to increase footfalls and up the spill-over effect.
Lisa: Okay, now it’s making less sense.
Sea Captain: Sailors must also be well-versed in mall-science and neuromarketing.
And now it’s time to build you first Squidport shop – the Itchy and Scratchy Store. It becomes available at this point in your Building menu for $32000 and takes 24 hours to build. This can only go on the Boardwalk, and if you try to put it anywhere else, “the pirate guy will get mad”. Keep Bart and Milhouse free as the build finishes.

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(T’s note: As you wait, resist the temptation to build too much Boardwalk – getting to far ahead on your Boardwalk progression seems to have a negative impact on the progression of the quest. There’s another glitch, too – the Store builds, but in some cases doesn’t clear from your task book. This is an easy glitch to fix, though, as putting the Store into your Inventory and taking it out again seems to get things moving.)

4. They Fight and Buy-It: Bart’s excited…

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Milhouse: Yes! Luckily I went to the ER three times last month, so I’m flush with cash.
And off they go to spend four hours browsing the Itchy and Scratchy Store together. Unfortunately, it’s not all that they were hoping for:

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Bart: This Itchy and Scratchy ball bounces funny and makes my eyes water when I smell it. Also, it’s stamped with the words “Warning: Not a Toy!”
Milhouse: I just found money in my other pocket.
Bart: What are we waiting for? Let’s buy more crap!

But that’s nothing for you to worry about – instead you can explore all the premium and non-premium items that unlocked with the completion of the Itchy and Scratchy Store. It’s over to the Sea Captain next to move the Squidport rebuild along.

The walkthrough will continue…

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Categories Bart, Boardwalk, Gameplay, Homer, Houseboat, Itchy and Scratchy Store, Lisa, Milhouse, Quests, Sea Captain, Squidport, The Old Man and the Sea, Walkthrough

What happens in the level 30 quest (part 3)?

By rcsprinter
June 8, 2013 //
184

We last left the level 30 walkthrough here with Apu visiting the jail after failing to stock guns in the Kwik-E-Mart (controversial topic there..!). Leave Marge free when he comes out, and tap her speech bubble.

Military Antiques Part 5: Marge is noticing a disturbing trend in the retail district.
Marge: Why are all of Springfield’s stores shutting down! There’s nowhere to shop!
Wiggum: Sorry Marge, that’s the law. I have to defend the people’s right to buy guns whenever the whim strikes them.
Marge: What about MY Constitutional rights to a decent downtown, fun window shopping, and jeans at a variety of price points?
Wiggum: Those aren’t rights! Or are they? Who can say! That’s the funny thing about the law — you never have the slightest clue what it is.
Marge: Well, I’m taking my message to the people!
At which point Marge decides she’s going to Protest… something for 24 hours.
Marge starts the next part.

Military Antiques Part 6: Not satisfied with the way her protest turned out she seeks aid from what must be the only shop still open.

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Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories Chief Wiggum, Gameplay, Herman, Herman's Military Antiques, Level 30, Marge, Military Antiques

What happens in the level 30 quest (part 1)?

By TSTO Tips
June 2, 2013 //
104

The level 30 quest is proving controversial on a number of levels but it begins innocently enough with Marge and her desire for more places to shop…

1. Military Antiques Part 1 As Lisa (together with the Giant Finger, of course) has been responsible for most of Springfield’s reconstruction, Marge decides to lodge a protest of sorts with her own daughter:

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Lisa: Well, I was thinking we could rebuild Herman’s shop. But I don’t think you’d shop there. It sells military antiques.
Marge: A store’s a store. Build it! Build it now!
Lisa may well regret it later, but that prompts the build of Herman’s Military Antiques ($249,000 and 24 hours), unlocking Herman.

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2. Military Antiques Part 2 Herman’s back…
Herman: They say when you go over to the other side, you come back changed. Unfortunately, I remain exactly the same.
And having shared that wisdom, he goes off to spend 8 hours running his military antique shop. Keep Marge free when he finishes.

3. Customers Part 1 Marge is overjoyed…

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Marge: I’ll take a box of musket balls, three “potato masher” grenades, and a dozen bazookas.
Herman: I didn’t realize you were such a fan of antique firearms.
Marge: Oh, I’m not. I just need to bring something to the register, and you have to charge me for it. You know – shopping!
Marge spends the next 8 hours browsing Herman’s Military Antiques. Keep Herman and Grampa free when she finishes.

4. Customers Part 2 It’s Grampa’s turn next…

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Herman: After all, it’s scary getting old, isn’t it?
Grampa: You have no idea. My vision’s gone, I’m always forgettin’ who I am, I panic in stressful situations…my trigger finger aches something terrible, my aim isn’t what it used to be, I often mistake loved ones for dangerous intruders, I forget whether things are loaded… and above all my time on Earth is short, and I’d love to take a few people with me when I go.
Herman: You’re the perfect gun owner! Step inside!
With that, it’s Grampa’s turn to spend 8 hours browsing Herman’s Military Antiques. Keep Bart and Milhouse free when he finishes – it’s their turn next!

The walkthrough continues…

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Categories Gameplay, Grampa Simpson, Herman, Herman's Military Antiques, Level 30, Marge, Walkthrough

What’s the difference between the conformity bonus and the premium decoration bonus?

By TSTO Tips
June 2, 2013 //
40

The recent posts on the Conform-o-meter have resuolted in lots of questions about the bonuses that apply to the game and how they work.

There are two kinds of bonus at plays in the game: the conformity bonus and the premium decoration bonus.

The conformity bonus

This is the bonus game that everyone can play – you can get up to a 5% bonus on cash and XP earned from all tasks and jobs by maximizing your Conform-o-meter under 8 categories. You can see what yours currently is by tapping on the stars at the bottom right of the screen.

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To see how to get it to the maximum 5%, you can take a look at the collected Conform-o-meter posts here. At the time of writing, the level 30 update has made achieving 5% impossible at most levels without huge numbers of duplicate buildings. But, I wouldn’t worry too much – the Squidport release scheduled for sometime this month should put things right again. My advice would be to save your money for that, rather than blowing it all on Krusty Burgers, Gulp ‘n’ Blows and Kwik-E-Marts just to get your ratings up.

The premium decoration bonus

This works separately from the conformity bonus, and there’s no maximum. You can buy as many premium items as you like and they all contribute to extra cash and XP earnings from jobs and rent (see here). Some give you a better return than others (see here), but they all add up. However, it’s important to remember that they only give you the bonus if they’re on display in your town. If they’re in your inventory, they contribute nothing at all.

At the moment, the only way to see your current premium decoration bonus currently is to manually add up ever premium decoration you have the “Gulp ‘n’ Blow” test and the variants described in the comments to this post: How can I easily work out my bonus multiplier? (And dont forget to take into account any Picket Fences you might have when looking at the difference between the two methods!)

Both of these are important as they make generating the game dollars you need to buy everything in the game that little bit easier. So what’s your current total bonus?

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Categories Bonus, Cash, Conform-o-meter, Gameplay, Gulp 'n' Blow, Level 30, Update, XP

What have you done with Herman’s Military Antiques?

By TSTO Tips
June 2, 2013 //
59

Jessica sent in this screensgot today for what she referred to as the “inevitable what have you done with Herman’s Military Antiques post”:

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So what have you done with Herman’s Military Antiques? Despite what Marge says, many people would view it as not just another shop.

So, send your screenshots in to Twitter at @TSTOTips or upload them to Dropbox or an image site and post a link here (as so many screenshots come in through Twitter, that way you can be sure that everyone will see what you’ve done).

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Categories Herman, Herman's Military Antiques, Level 30, Update

Do I really have to build Zesty’s?

By TSTO Tips
June 2, 2013 //
53

Unfortunately, the answer to this is “no”. I say unfortunately, because it looks like Zesty’s is another Springfield white elephant (for those unfamiliar with the term, take a look here), at least as far as quests and tasks go. This puts it firmly in the same category as the unloved Pimento Grove.

This is the fourth regular building that has appeared and then been largely unused:

  • The first was the Post Office, which appears when your XP bar reaches level 23 but doesn’t come into use until you’re at least at level 25 and unlock Burns Manor and Smithers.
  • The second was Pimento Grove, which unlocks when your XP bar takes you to level 25 and still sits unused and unloved.
  • The third was El Chemistri, which appears as part of Ralph Wiggum’s storyline. This is used again when Lenny and Carl appear in your game, but there are still no regular tasks that involve it.

The Community Center that arrives with Jasper is another building that seems to touch the lives of none of your characters – but that’s a premium building, so there’s nothing to suggest that you have to buy it. And, of course, there are the Valentines and Halloween buildings that haven’t had any use outside those two events.

So, you’re not missing out on anything if you decide to save your cash for now and build Zesty’s later when you have more money or the price drops. And the 10 points it adds to your Gluttony rating is probably not enough of a reason to build it now if you’re short of game dollars. Besides, it serves exactly the same stuff as Luigi’s!

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Categories Carl, Cash, Community Center, El Chemistri, Gameplay, Lenny, Level 23, Level 25, Level 26, Level 27, Level 30, Pimento Grove, Post Office, Smithers, Zesty's

Repost: What’s the point of house-farming?

By TSTO Tips
June 2, 2013 //
104

First, for people new to the game, house-farming isn’t a crop option on Cletus’ farm. It’s what some players do when, for one reason or another, they decide to forego the town creation part of the game and instead try to collect as much cash as they can. The result is something that looks like this (not my town!):

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There are lots of reasons why people house-farm. Many people house-farm at the early stages of the game to generate enough cash to move through the game a little faster. And during the Christmas event, lots of houses meant lots of chances for your friends to collect Santa Coins, so house-farming was actually a very neighborly thing to do. (During the Whacking Day event, however, house-farms were often difficult places to hunt down snakes.)

House-farming is almost always controversial, but the current glitch (or change) in quest progression, together with how close we are to Squidport and the huge amounts of game dollars it will require, makes it a necessity for many players. But once they’re at the upper levels, have all the buildings and characters, and have built a town that generates an income of close to a million dollars a week, many erstwhile house-farmers put their oceans of houses away and focus on designing the most appealing town they can.

I must admit that I’m a bit of a purist. I truly believe that designing your own Springfield (and sometimes re-designing it) is as much fun as collecting all the stuff. While I would never delete a friend who chose the house-farming route, I far prefer seeing how creative people have been. But, if you’re thinking about going down the house-farming route simply to build up enough cash for what’s ahead, this post is certainly worth a look: How can I quickly earn money in Tapped Out?

There’s been a lot of discussion already about this in the comments below, but what does everyone else think? And please keep it nice – for some reason every house-farming discussion generates a lot of heat!

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Categories Be Mine cards, Christmas, Escalator to Nowhere, Gameplay, Housefarming, Popsicle Stick Skyscraper, Valentine's Day

What happened to my Conform-o-meter with the level 30 update?

By TSTO Tips
June 1, 2013 //
148

I’ve updated this post with new information from The Files…

With the arrival of level 30, many players will have found that their Conform-o-meter ratings will have taken a hit, particularly in Consumerism and Gluttony (mine dropped to 2 and a half stars and 3 and a half stars respectively). That’s because the points required to give you a maximum rating dramatically increased at many levels, as you can see in this chart:

Level Indo-lence Obedi-ence Consum-erism Gluttony Tree-hugging Right-eousness Vanity Social-ism
1-4 60 10 12 12 425 3 920 12
5 60 10 24 12 425 3 920 12
6 90 10 60 12 425 3 920 12
7 100 10 60 12 425 3 920 12
8 130 10 60 12 475 3 1370 12
9 140 40 60 12 565 3 1670 18
10 160 40 60 12 695 3 2020 30
11 160 70 60 60 865 5 2420 48
12 170 80 72 60 1075 7 2870 66
13 180 80 72 60 1325 9 3370 90
14 190 90 84 84 1615 11 3920 114
15 190 100 132 120 1945 14 4520 144
16 200 110 168 156 2315 17 5170 174
17 200 110 168 156 2725 30 5870 210
18 210 110 168 180 3175 33 6620 246
19 220 110 180 180 3665 47 7420 288
20 230 120 180 192 4195 51 8720 330
21 240 120 180 192 4765 55 9170 378
22 260 130 180 192 5375 59 10120 426
23 260 160 180 192 6025 64 11120 480
24 270 180 180 204 6715 69 12170 534
25 280 180 180 216 7445 74 13270 594
26 300 180 180 228 8215 79 14420 654
27 300 200 180 228 9025 85 15620 720
28 320 200 180 240 9875 91 16870 786
29 330 200 180 240 10765 97 18170 858
30 340 210 192 252 11695 103 19520 930

At level 30, you need 34 houses for a maximum Indolence rating, 20 shops for a maximum Consumerism rating, and 26 restaurants for a maximum Gluttony rating – and Zesty’s and Herman’s Military Antiques barely make a dent in the increment you need. At most levels below that the Indolence, Obedience, Consumerism, and Gluttony requirements have also increased. This is probably the best indication that Squidport was originally planned to land ahead of level 30, as the Squidport expansion buildings are primarily shops and restaurants.

My advice – don’t worry about it for now. You can buy and place Kwik-E-Marts and Gulp ‘n’ Blows to boost your ratings, but that’s really taking franchising to the extreme. Squidport is not that far away and it won’t be long (just a week or two) before you can get your Conform-o-meter back where it belongs.

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Categories Community Center, Conform-o-meter, Consumerism rating, Gameplay, Gluttony rating, Herman's Military Antiques, Indolence rating, Level 30, Obedience rating, Righteousness rating, Socialism rating, Tree-hugging rating, Update, Vanity rating, Zesty's

Will you be spending your donuts on Jasper and the Community Center?

By TSTO Tips
June 1, 2013 //
79

It’s the weekend and a new level makes it just that little bit brighter. So, the question for this weekend’s poll is very simple – will you be spending your donuts on Jasper and the Community Center? There’ll be a full post soon enough on whether they’re worth your donuts, but vote now based on what you’re currently thinking and see what everyone else is planning to do.

And don’t forget the other poll that’s currently running here, looking at the age distribution of people who play this game and read this blog. You can find it here.

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Categories Community Center, Donuts, Gameplay, Jasper, Level 30, Polls, Update

What Conform-o-meter ratings do the level 30 buildings and decorations contribute to – and how much?

By TSTO Tips
June 1, 2013 //
26

The new buildings and decorations don’t do very much to help you hit those impossibly high Conform-o-meter points that you can see a couple of posts below this one, but most of them do help a bit. The exception seems to be the Community Center, as you can see in the table below.

Please note that for the buildings, I’ve used the base price and base XP from the files – the price and XP that they will eventually settle at when the multiplier stops operating on them. And, as I’ve just realised, the multipliers in the files apply to the XP you gain from completing a building as well as it’s price. To save you looking back, here are the multipliers that are currently at work on the upper levels:

Level 25: 1.3x
Level 26: 1.3x
Level 27: 1.4x
Level 28: 1.6x
Level 29: 2x
Level 30: 3x

So, here’s the contribution that each of the new items makes:

Building / Decoration Base price Base XP on completion Rating Points
Herman’s Military Antiques $83,000 7500 Consumerism 10
Zesty’s $68,000 7000 Gluttony 10
Community Center 150 donuts 150 — —
Training Dummy $4500 500 Vanity 500
Bomb Shelter $5600 550 Vanity 560
Miniature Nuclear Warhead 45 donuts 45 Vanity 400

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Categories Bomb Shelter, Buildings, Community Center, Conform-o-meter, Consumerism rating, Donuts, Gameplay, Gluttony rating, Herman's Military Antiques, Level 30, Training Dummy, Update, Vanity rating, Zesty's

What does the Community Center look like?

By TSTO Tips
June 1, 2013 //
30

There’ll be a post coming in the next couple of days on whether it’s worth spending 150 donuts on Jasper and the Community Center, but for those considering it, here’s what the Community Center looks like:

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It earns you $135 and 15XP every four hours but strangely, Jasper has no tasks that involve it and nor do any of your other Springfielders. Perhaps not so strange though, given what you see when you tap on it:

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There’s no hurry to buy it as it’s not limited time. If you’re on a donut budget, my advice would be to wait and see what appears in the game in the next week or two.

And for those who are wondering – yes, Jasper has a voice.

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Categories Community Center, Donuts, Gameplay, Jasper, Level 30, Update

Have the prices of any building changed now that level 30 is here?

By TSTO Tips
June 1, 2013 //
39

Every time a new level is released, the prices of some or all of the more expensive buildings at previous levels are usually adjusted downwards. This is because all the regular building have a base price in the files that represents the price they will eventually drop to, but a set of multipliers applies to the 6 highest levels:

Level 25: 1.3x
Level 26: 1.3x
Level 27: 1.4x
Level 28: 1.6x
Level 29: 2x
Level 30: 3x

So, based on current information, here are the prices for all the buildings from the van Houten House onwards (and if you see any prices that need correcting, please let me know):

van Houten House – $3,800
Pink House – $3,400
Springfield Elementary – $10,500
White House – $7,700
Willie’s Shack – $12,000
Gulp ‘N’ Blow – $13,500
Cooling Towers – $15,000
Reactor Core – $18,500
Control Building – $15,000
Bart’s Treehouse – $25,000 (instant build)
Springfield Library – $20,500
Android’s Dungeon – $30,000
Orange House – $24,500
First Church of Springfield – $32,500
Java Server – $26,500
Moe’s – $32,000
Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace – $29,000
Springfield Downs – $34,500
Gilded Truffle – $31,000
King Toot’s – $37,000
Police Station – $40,500
Skip’s Diner – $35,500
Luigi’s – $39,000 (an increase! – thanks to Kevin and Mickus20)
Springfield Penitentiary – $46,000
Retirement Castle – $37,500
Town Hall – $48,500
Muntz House – $46,500
Krabappel Apartments – $54,000
Post Office – $69,000
Channel 6 – $46,000
Hibbert Family Practice – $53,500 (the lowest it will drop to)
Springfield General Hospital – $65,500 (the lowest it will drop to)
Burns Manor – $98,150
Pimento Grove – $72,800
Wiggum House – $76,050
El Chemistri – $92,950 (and 36 hours to build)
Springfield Buddhist Temple – $103,600
Adult Education Annex – $84,700 (and 36 hours to build)
Businessman’s Club – $100,800
Fat Tony’s Compound – $136,000 (and 36 hours to build)
The Skinner House – $131,000
Herman’s Military Antiques – $249,000
Zesty’s – $204,000 (and 36 hours to build)

Escalator to Nowhere – $1,000,000 (and 3 days to build)
Popsicle Stick Skyscraper – $2,000,000 (and 3 days to build)
50-foot Magnifying Glass – $3,000,000 (and 3 days to build)

Buildings on the list take 24 hours to complete, except where I’ve indicated otherwise. I look forward to your updates!

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Categories Buildings, Gameplay, Level 30, Prices

Should I spend my donuts on Hank Scorpio and the Volcano Lair?

By TSTO Tips
May 30, 2013 //
43

For some reason I’ve been finding this a post that’s difficult to write, which is why it’s taken so long to get to. I’m not sure why but it may be partly due to the size of the building and partly due to the 200 donut price tag. It was the last of the original premium decorations that I bought, so maybe that has something to do with it. But, as you’ll see, there are some good reasons to buy Hank and his giant pink hideout.

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So, first, let’s take a look at Hank’s tasks:

Task Length Dollars XP
Deliver ultimatum to the G8 nations (at Town Hall) 60 minutes $105 26XP
Interrogate Mr. Bont (at Volcano Lair) 4 hours $260 70XP
Take a fun run (outdoors) 6 hours $350 90XP
Test flame thrower (outdoors) 8 hours $420 105XP
Proceed with Project Arcturus (Volcano Lair) 12 hours $600 150XP
Be a great boss (Volcano Lair) 24 hours $1000 225XP

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So, why is Hank and the Volcano Lair worth your hard-earned or -won donuts?:

1. Hank is the most expensive of the premium characters to actually earn the premium rate – Barney and Miss Springfield are more expensive, but as they were both event prizes, they only earn the regular rate for their jobs.
2. The Volcano Lair animation that you see when Hank is inside either being a great boss, interrogating his nemesis, or planning world domination is one of the best building animations in the game.
3. The Volcano Lair earns at a reasonable rate of $500 and 50XP every 24 hours – not the best rate, but by no means the worst, either.
4. Hank comes with a short quest that works through most of his tasks with a short storyline, giving you something to do if you’re waiting for other things to happen in the game.
5. Hank testing his flame thrower is one of my favorite character tasks in the game.
6. The sound when you tap on the Volcano Lair gives you the impression that Hank is also running a night club in his spare time.
7. If your New Springfield is getting a little chaotic with all these new characters, perhaps a little word domination is the solution.

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And some reasons against:

1. It’s big and pink and at 11×12 squares takes up a lot of room and can be quite difficult to place.
2. The Volcano Lair makes no contribution to any of the Conform-o-meter ratings.
3. Only two of Hank’s tasks are outdoors.
4. At 200 donuts, Hank and his Lair is the third-most expensive premium character and building combination in the game.
5. Hank has no voice, being voiced in the series by Albert Brooks, rather than any of the 6 main cast members.
6. The Lair is not actually in Springfield at all – it’s in Cypress Creek!
7. World domination is so 1990s.

Completists will have no problem buying Hank and the Lair. But if you’re a more cautious in your premium purchases, you may want to think about it a little more.

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Categories Donuts, Gameplay, Hank Scorpio, Volcano Lair

What have you done with Burns Manor (part 2)?

By TSTO Tips
May 29, 2013 //
18

A couple of days ago, in response to a question from Harry, I asked “what have you done with Burns Manor?” You can see the original post here, but here’s another selection of screenshots that came in through Twitter.

Doug Long needed four screenshots to show of what he’s done:

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And @VirtuaLiaison put Fat Tony’s Compound and Burns Manor right next door to each other:

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My apologies if yours hasn’t appeared yet – there were so many of them that there’s going to need to be another post or two.

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Categories Burns Manor, Design

Should I spend my donuts on Tatum and the Coliseum?

By TSTO Tips
May 28, 2013 //
33

If you didn’t manage to whack your way to Tatum during Whacking Day, you’ve probably been wondering whether he’s worth the 190 doonuts that he and the Coliseum are now going for. The short answer is, I’m not sure…

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To help you make your decision, here’s Tatum’s task list:

Task Length Dollars XP
Dine at the Truffle 2 hours $110 27XP
Walk the Tiger (outdoors) 4 hours $175 45XP
Step into the ring (at the Coliseum) 8 hours $275 70XP
Answer questions at the Police Station 12 hours $420 100XP
Stay in shape (outdoors) 24 hours $600 150XP

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With a task list that’s not exactly persuasive, why would you spend your donuts on him? Here a few reasons in his favor:

1. He’s a character with a building (although it’s a fairly chunky 12×10 building) – and characters with buildings are generally more attractive purchases. The Coliseum earns $200 and 22XP every 8 hours.
2. He has a short quest, adding a little variety to the game while you’re waiting for the next big thing to come along (you can read through the quest here).
3. He has a voice (although the voice is one of the softer ones).
4. He has a tiger – and the tiger is actually the strongest reason in his favor. He can join Krusty and his monkey, the Reverend Lovejoy and his dog, and Burns and his hounds in promenading around your New Springfield.

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There’s a fair few reasons why you may choose to ignore his inglorious return to Springfield, though:

1. Despite being at the expensive end of the premium scale, there’s no 50% bonus on his jobs and XP. That’s fairly typical of premium items that were initially given away free – and Miss Springfield and Barney both fall into the same category.
2. His voice, like a few of the others seems soft – at times you can barely hear it.
3. He has no one-hour task, and only 2 of his 5 tasks are outdoors.
4. The Coliseum is kind of chunky and it takes a little work to make it look good.
5. He’s the only character to use the Coliseum, which seems like another waste of a building. While the sign of the entrance says Tatum vs. Simpsons, there’s so task for any of the Simpsons to go and fight him there. So, no rematch for Homer.

So, what this really means is that Tatum isn’t a premium character that needs to be at the top of your purchase list. And if you’re frugal with your donuts, don’t feel that you’re missing out by not having him in your Springfield. Let him go off and make The Hangover 3, and then he can pay for his own return!

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Categories Donuts, Gameplay, Springfield Coliseum, Tatum

What have you done with Burns Manor?

By TSTO Tips
May 27, 2013 //
52

As the site comes gradually back after it’s second site transfer in 3 days, access may be a little intermittent – but I’m here.

With many people redesigning their towns in preparation for a Squidport expansion that’s expected this week, here’s a question that came in from Harry:

Has anybody got any tips on what to do with Burns Manor. Right now, I’ve just got a massive area for it but have nothing except a mediocre driveway and a back entrance to Fat Tony’s compound. Please give me some advice and some pics of yours would be cool.

Well, Harry, my Burns Manor continues to be a work in progress (like all my Springfield), but I’ve gone for tree lined driveways and some fountains, as you can see in the screenshot at the end of this post. But I’ve seen some great Burns Manors – so if you’re proud of yours, why not post a link to it in the comments section, send a screenshot through Twitter to @TSTOTips.

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Here are a few that came in very quickly through Twitter. From @HalfEvilHomer:
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From @Linolakingle:

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From @Chezza512:

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And from @Mpc1055:

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More to come…

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Categories Buildings, Burns Manor, Design, Gameplay

What ratings do the aspirational buildings contribute to – and how much do they contribute?

By TSTO Tips
May 25, 2013 //
8

It’s still a rocky road on the transfer, but things seem to be settling down at my end. I’ve been in and out of connection with the admin side of the site all day. WordPress tells me that it could take up to 72 hours for everything to settle down across the internet world, so please be patient. In the interim, some of your comments have landed on the old WordPress.com site and haven’t appeared here yet at the new WordPress.org location, so if you’ve sent something through and can’t see it, please try again.

In the meantime, let’s talk about the aspirational buildings – those three big, expensive buildings that sit on your build menu. The important thing to know about these is that they don’t behave like buildings. They don’t earn you regular income and there are no tasks or quests involving them. They’re really your New Springfield’s white elephant decorations.

Here’s what they do:

Building Price XP Rating Points
Escalator to Nowhere $1,000,000 10,000 Vanity 1000
Popsicle Stick Skyscraper $2000000 20,000 Vanity 2000
50-foot Magnifying Glass $3000000 30,000 Vanity 3000

And for those who haven’t built them, yet, here are a couple of images sent in by readers:

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If you’d like to read the other posts on the decorations and their rating contribution, you can take a look here:

  • Part 1, which looks at all the game dollar decorations up to level 14 is here;
  • Part 2, which looks at all the game dollar decorations from level 15 to level 29 is here; and
  • Part 3, which looks at the premium decorations, is here.

Coming next – the limited-time decorations…

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Categories 50-foot Magnifying Glass, Conform-o-meter, Escalator to Nowhere, Gameplay, Popsicle Stick Skyscraper, Vanity rating, XP
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